British academics warn history as subject biased against ethnic minorities

British academics in a new report have warned against racial and ethnic inequalities in the teaching and practice of history in the country.

The report by the UK's Royal Historical Society draws attention to the under-representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students and staff in university history programmes and substantial levels of race-based bias and discrimination experienced by BME historians in UK universities.

"History is a popular subject in UK schools, but evidence suggests BME pupils are less likely than their peers to choose history in examinations and university applications," the 'Race, Ethnicity and Equality' report notes.

"History student cohorts are less diverse than most other university subjects, with only 11 per cent of history students coming from BME backgrounds, compared to nearly a quarter of all university students," it said.

The report, a component of the scholarly society's 150th anniversary programme, draws on a year of research and a survey of over 700 university-based historians.

It offers advice and guidance for academic historians on taking positive action to address and diminish barriers to equality in the discipline.

"An Indian PhD student commented that there is a 'dearth of research funding to support projects run by BME historians' with many noting that was especially true for those who do research on non-British subjects due to greater travel costs," according to one of the report's findings.

"There was the suggestion to introduce travel and research grants aimed at BME students, more grants for research in black and global history and national/institutional PhD scholarships for BME students," it said.

The research also took note that some Indian scholars had found that academics sitting on interview boards and recruiting committees often hesitated to offer a permanent position to BME academics.

"Some respondents felt that hiring committees were affected by 'unconscious/implicit bias'," the report found.

The Royal Historical Society called for urgent attention by universities and history departments to combat experiences of exclusion, bias and discrimination among ethnic minority students and academics in Britain's academic institutions.

Its report concludes with tailored advice and guidance for heads of department, teaching staff, research supervisors, journal editors and conference organisers to ensure racial and ethnic inequalities do not detract from the quality, practice and experience of history in the country.